OUR WORLD
REVIEW & INTERVIEW
“How Finkelstein Broke
the Trauma Bond
and Beat the Holocaust”
by Lawrence Swaim
T
I
This book is difficult to read,
detailing as it does some of
the most horrific episodes of
brutality and evil in the wars
and armed conflicts of recent
history.
t is however ultimately encouraging, because, it tells the story of people who have
bravely told the truth and found the way
to maintain their humanity in the face of
evil and serve the greater good. The trauma bond in the title refers to that quirk in
the human psyche whereby victims of torture or brutality may identify with those who hold
power over them and then go on to vent their pain
through aggression toward others.
The chapter that gives the book its name is about
Norman Finkelstein, the son of two Holocaust survivors, who wrote his PhD thesis on exposing the
untruths in a book written to morally justify the expulsion of the Palestinians from their villages during
the establishment of the state of Israel. Later published as a book, Finkelstein’s work earned him the
enmity of the Israel lobby and indirectly resulted in
31 | NEW CONSCIOUSNESS REVIEW